Keen on design (and Emily).

A few years ago I fell in love.  Not with Mike, but with Emily Tingey (I was already in love with Mike).  This chic, savvy lady who I had a girl-crush on from a distance had an open spot in her room, let me take it, and the rest is history.

Well, she is a designer (which gives a hint as to why we loved each other so quickly), and she has recently started a blog to track her random thoughts, ideas, etc.  You should check it out because she is fresh out of design school and has some great things going for her.  A few seconds checking her blog out will inspire you for quite a while.

Etymologie.

This makes me happy.  I'm sure that you have experienced a day inside my brain, where one thought leads to another at such a rapid pace that in the end you have no idea where you started.  The truth is, even if you look back and trace the steps from point a to b, b to c, etc, it is still hard to make connections...

Anyway, Anthropologie has made a blog that I feel is dedicated to touring my brain visually.  Just kidding, that's a bit arrogant.  But I love their new site, Etymologie, which takes one word and explores it visually and conceptually until it is nearly exhausted. 

What d'ya think?

And life goes on.

Are you ever amazed by the fact that life just keeps going?  Sometimes, when things are really good, I just want to stop everything, including time, and revel in the beauty.  Other times, when things are hard, I close my eyes and use all my will power to lunge myself through one of those transformations that happen in films when you someone lose fifty pounds in 20 seconds, or watch them live ten years of their life in one minute.  You know what I'm talking about, right?  There is usually some cheesy music in the background, everyone starts crying, a little girl may be dancing in a meadow in slow motion and then the dandelions blow in the wind and suddenly she's 23 and getting married?  I'm going to stop explaining.  If you don't know what I'm referring to, it's okay.  Just imagine me trying to do something impossible--jump ten years ahead of right now to make sure whatever I am going through was worth it.

That's not to say that I'm going through one of "those times," or that I'm not.  Life just keeps going.  And it's fast.  I'm grateful for the ride and all of the refining experiences that come with it.  For whatever reason, I've been thinking a lot about life lately.  Life, life, life.  Isn't it wonderful?

This week is the second to last week of school!  I pass this building every time I take the 27/22/1 home from work.  I love the clean lines, the colors, and the randomness of it.

And this is San Francisco at night.  This picture turned out rather nice, don't you think?

You can't find Palm Trees everywhere in San Francisco, but they are fairly frequent near my work in the Mission.  We've had lots of beautiful days over the past few weeks (with a patch of miserable rain), and I've loved playing outside with the kiddies/getting a little golden on my runs.  Yeah, my runs.  It's amazing what being at sea level can do for your lungs!

Last week Mike and I BARTed (San Francisco's version of the Tube or Subway, but not nearly as efficient or worth the hassle) to Oakland to hang out with Curt, Naomi, and the boys.

We were planning to do a session in the Oakland LDS temple but the door closed literally 1 minute before we were ready to go in, so we ended up doing some other work instead.  It was wonderful to escape the craziness of life for a few hours inside such a holy place.

After the temple, we watched the boys while Curt & Naomi did a session.  We are hoping to make "temple swap" days a more frequent tradition.  Mike is the best and entertained Ryland while Rhys and I napped.  He'll be a great dad!  Someday.

Ryland found out we were going to get frozen yogurt and was very excited!  But before we partook of the never-fails-treat, we went to The Counter for some delicious burgers and fries.

 The kid didn't last very long...

 ...but did perk up at and after dinner.  Yogurtland had key lime something-or-other tart as well as pineapple guava tart.  Both sounded better than they actually were.  If we could just combine Yoppi's tart flavors and Yogurtland's regular flavors, Mike and I would have a perfect yogurt stop.  Oh wait.  Pink Berry is just that.  Too bad they don't have one in the city... 

This bush is absolutely bursting with gorgeous, hot pink flowers.  I liked this picture better in muted tones, though.  I love the plants in this glorious city!

I don't love rain.  And we had some last week. 

 Crazy hair, crazy day, crazy life.  

Mike got me some sunflowers after I had some bla doctors appointments.  I love him. 

 The pavement on Powell near Union Square.  I love the light dancing on the bricks!

 A Rice-a-Roni Golden Gate Bridge at Anthropologie!  I love that store!  And their displays!

I like trying to get peels off in one piece.  Today I succeeded with a mineola.  And I liked the picture, so you get to see it.

And...that's all for now!  Here's to life and the fact that it won't stop!

Eliminated--not defeated.

 

Hey there - 

The picture above is a little depressing, right?  I hadn't been to my blog in a few days, and when I ventured over this way I found that "The Fictionists" were still lucky enough to have a blog gadget with "ELIMINATED" written on it, even though their part in the Rolling Stone contest is over.  I don't know why there couldn't be a "this page could not be found," button, or something a little less glaring, but there you have it. 

At first I was very depressed to hear that my friends didn't move to the final round of the contest.  But then I realized that I was the only one wallowing (at least for an extended amount of time).  I wish I had a link to Stu's Facebook, because it is absolutely hilarious.  But below you can get a taste of how classy these rock n' rollers handled the news:

And you can get a taste of how many (funny) fans and friends they have made in their recent musical journey:

 

Most importantly, however, you can see that these guys are still smiling.   Like I have said before, that is one thing I love about them.  They love each other, they love their fans, and they love making music. 

Thanks for the ride, guys!

Onward!

The real deal (FICTIONIST).

I know that I tweet, talk, brag, and blog about these guys all the time, but I do it with good reason.  They are inspiring, motivated, and honest-to-goodness great guys.  I have celebrated birthdays with them, hugged them after concerts, been mesmerized by their outstanding musical skill, etc.  

They are the best.

And I want everyone to know they are the best.  Not only because my opinion matters that much (just kidding), but mostly because I love sharing things that are important, inspiring, and beautiful to me with everyone I can.

Fictionist is important.  

Not only because they are in the 3rd of 4 rounds of an enormous competition that few musicians can even dream of being a part of, but also because they are unique, stalwart examples of my faith.  I personally appreciate their ability to live a "Mormon" lifestyle without letting it define them and their music.  I do not think artists of any kind are bad or wrong by creating work based on their religious beliefs (Mormon or not), but I find it refreshing to see a great example of outstanding talent and musicianship in a group that just so happens to be made up of LDS members.

I am inspired by these guys.  

They are unbelievably dedicated to their music, families, and faith.  They rock harder (and better) than many groups that have already "made it big."  I also have to mention that I am inspired by Robbie (the curly one).  I promised myself that I would never get married until I felt like I had the kind of love that he and Caitlin share.  I love how much he loves and takes care of one of my dearest friends.  I also find myself jealous of his afro on a constant basis.

They're beautiful.

Hello.  Have you seen them?  Their hair?  Have you heard their music?  Do you love that it isn't made up of three chords and talking about the same girl in every song?  I do.  I also find beauty in people who are living their dreams and passionate about doing what they love.  So to me, Fictionist is beautiful.  I realize that sounds cheesy.

And I love this picture, because it shows how much fun they have making music.  Anyone that happy deserves to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.  Don't you think?

Please take a minute to vote for my friends!

*Pictures taken from the Rolling Stone website.

Playin' Hookie.

So most of you know this, but my husband works fairly ridiculous hours.  Last week, he worked 40 hours before Tuesday was over.  Luckily his company recognizes that this shouldn't be happening (too much), and he gets a comp day every time his hours cross the line between ridiculous and another word I'm unable to grasp at the moment.  So Wednesday of last week, he was off.  I talked him into letting me miss work, too, so we spent the whole day enjoying each others' company in San Francisco.  Mike recently told me that he changed the name of our travel fund to "adventure fund" in our budget.  That's one of many reasons why I like him.

The day started out with gf pancakes for me and french toast for Mike.  Then we headed to the Presidio and rented some bicycles (mine needs a little fixin' and Mike's got stolen).

I know it's hard to believe, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky all day!  Part of the reason why I wanted work off is because I couldn't imagine spending a 79* day INDOORS!  There was hardly any wind.  It was perfect.

Random dog-walker (I hope they didn't all belong to her) on our way to the bridge.

We live here!  And love it!

GGB Visitors Center

Looking out over The Bay.

We got some strangers to take our picture.

Our lovely city.  (Yes, ours).

He's cute.

I loved the colors of the water and bridge next to each other.

We rode to Sausalito, where the weather was even more beautiful, and grabbed some Thai food at this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant I found with my friend Emily when she visited.  You may wonder why anyone would get Thai food in Sausalito, especially on a warm day, but my options are limited there.  And it's delicious.

We were going to ride back to San Francisco, but we had a little too much fun wandering around and had more plans for the afternoon (which we still ended up missing), so we ended up taking the ferry back.

This picture is for Katie Jane.  This store is near our house.  Also, the rest of the pictures are out of order as they were not taken with my camera.

In the Presidio before we rented our bikes.

We hopped this fence to get to our destination.

After returning from Sausalito, we rode from the ferry building up to Pier 39 and got Mike a smoothie.  We also visited the seals and I ate one of these delicious plums.  They are HUGE!

Mmmmm...

Pier 39.

Sea Lions' 30th anniversary!

After the adventure, we were going to eat Ethiopian food, but we had too much fun riding around the Marina and Presidio on our bicycles!  So we are saving the grub for another adventure.  We hurried home, showered, and went to a movie in SOMA.  It was a perfect and delightful day.  I wish I could hang out with Mike all day, every day, always.

In other news...

I'm attempting to grow some herbs.  So far, they are not dead.

My new salad addiction: Working Girl's Cafe Greek Salad with Chicken.  It's delicious!

In church on Sunday (May 8th), the men gave the women daisies!  Mine was a tad limp and sad when I received it, but I put it by the window and look how excited it got!  Solar powered, just like me. 

Less than three weeks left working in the Mission (for now).  I'm still not sure if I'm going back next year...

This picture is funnier is you know the random background information.  It's safe to assume we love each other, though.

PS - Please excuse typos and gramattical errors.  I'm spread thin as of late.  As in, 50+ hours of work per week, thin.  Sigh.